


Music of the Night

by Tieria_Virtue_92



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, F/M, Female Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, Friends to Lovers, Miscommunication, Modern AU, One sided Shallura, Performing Arts, Platonic Male/Male Relationships, past shallura, performance anxiety, platonic klance, slow burn keith/allura
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-05-12
Updated: 2017-05-31
Packaged: 2018-10-31 02:49:18
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,458
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10890111
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tieria_Virtue_92/pseuds/Tieria_Virtue_92
Summary: Keith has been singing since he was kid. In high school,Allura, the most beautiful girl in his class, humiliated him in front of the whole school by using him to get close to his fellow Chicago Boys Choir member Takashi Shirogane. When the two cross paths while attending the University of Chicago School of Art and Music, can the two of them overcome the pain and misunderstanding of their adolescence.WARNING: NOW ON PERMANENT HIATUS! Sorry





	1. Finals and Some News

**Author's Note:**

> Kallura college AU
> 
> Plus I've decided to make the Vehicle Voltron character Lady Dorma Keith's mother because it's a head canon that I've had going on in my head since there is a debate going on at Tumblr who Keith's mother could be.
> 
> Klance in this is platonic.

Chapter One

 

There was one thing that Keith Kogane would never get used to since he started college: how quiet campus could get once Finals Week ended. Especially when it was only May and summer was a month away. Keith was a music education major with an emphasis in Performance. He had been singing since he was in elementary school. Keith walked through campus, watching students empty out their dorms, their families helping them carry out furniture, like chairs from IKEA, desk lamps purchased from the local Target and plastic storage bins full of clothes. It never ceased to amaze him how much an incoming freshman accumulated over a semester. The dark haired, violet eyed Junior was on his way to the bus stop to head over to the apartment that he shared with his friends Lance and Hunk. Unlike the students he was watching leaving for the summer, Keith lived near campus and took classes during the summer to make up for the courses that he didn’t take during the school year and he also worked on campus giving tours to potential students and their parents. And not only that his parents lived on the west side of Chicago, which wasn’t that far away. 

“What up,bro!”, said a voice coming behind him. He would know that voice anywhere. A slim brown arm was slung across his shoulder. It was Lance standing behind him watching a blond haired girl carrying a loaded tote of sweaters to her parent’s Range Rover. “Aren’t you going to go over and help her,dude”

“I think that I would if she asked. Which she hasn’t,” Keith answered as he watched her place the tote in the SUV. The girl was pretty with long blond hair braided into a pony tail, slung over her shoulder. She was wearing a University of Chicago sweatshirt with the sleeves pushed up, showing off her slender arms. The girl must’ve noticed them watching, because she turned around and waved to them cheerfully. 

Lance waved back and made a move to cross the street the dorm was on to talk to her, but Keith stopped him. Coming up behind the girl was a tall football player type who eyed them suspiciously as he carried a computer desk chair in one hand and a small table in the other. Obviously that guy was her boyfriend, but he smiled when he recognized Keith and Lance. Jackson Walker was a former classmate from junior high school and sang with them in the Chicago Boys Choir until Jackson’s father made him choose between Choir and football, which he made him quit the Boys Choir to focus on sports. 

“Hey Keith. Hey Lance!” Jackson yelled as he placed the chair on the sidewalk. 

“Didn’t know that you were going here,” Lance shouted as the other man walked across the street towards them. Once Jackson was across the road, Lance grabbed the other man’s arm and bumped shoulders with him. Keith did the same and asked Jackson who the girl was and how long they’d been dating. 

“That’s my girlfriend, Candace,” Jackson responded, waving at the girl to come over and meet them. Candace neatly dodged the minivan that was backing out to leave the dorm parking lot.  
“It’s nice to meet you both,” said Candace when Jackson introduced Keith and Lance to her. “What are you both doing during the summer break.”

“I’m going to be working at Six Flags Great America this summer,” Lance answered. “I was going to audition for one of the park shows, but I missed the audition dates because of a class I had to take.”

“Where are going to be working then?” Keith asked. He knew that one of his professors had asked for Keith to attend one of the auditions, but Keith hadn’t performed in front of people since the disastrous choir concert in high school that left him with performance anxiety. He sang occasionally with Lance’s band, The Paladins, which didn’t bother him as much as performing in front of an auditorium of people. 

“I’m working one of the roller coasters. Can’t remember the name though,” Lance told him after thinking about it.

“Sounds cool,” Jackson said. The four talked for a little while longer, when Candace’s parents called for her to get in the Range Rover so that they could leave. Candace was from Columbus,OH and they had a long drive ahead of them. Keith, Lance and Jackson made plans to meet at Starbucks on Saturday to catch up.  
Lance drove to campus that day because of a final that was scheduled. He had parked in the one of the commuter lots, which meant they had to walk two blocks to get to Lance’s car, a blue Toyota Camry that his parents gave him as a graduation gift. They both got into the car, when Keith’s iPhone went off. It was Keith’s mother Dorma. 

“How were finals today?” his mother asked him as Keith and Lance headed towards his parents’ house. 

“They were pretty easy,” Keith answered as he watched the skyscrapers roll past. 

Keith’s parents’ lived in Clarendon Hills in a two story Victorian since Keith was a baby. The traffic wasn’t that bad as they drove away from the University of Chicago campus. The traffic on the freeway wasn’t bad either and they made it to the house . Keith’s father, Alex Kogane was an ex-Marine, who taught English at the local high school and performed in a local Jazz group, playing the guitar. Keith’s mother Dorma Kogane was a classically trained operatic Soprano who retire from performing after she married Alex. Sometimes she sang with her husband’s jazz group. 

“Hi, Mom” Keith called as he opened the backdoor to the kitchen, after Lance pulled into the driveway and they both got out of the car. Lance followed him in and stopped to look at the piano in the parlor. This was the piano where he got the majority of his childhood singing lessons when he and Keith performed with the Chicago Boys Choir. . Keith’s mother was in the kitchen taking the lasagna out of the oven and walked over to the refrigerator to pull out a bag of salad to accompany the main dish. Keith walked over to the kitchen door and asked if he could help his mother out. 

“You can start by setting the table for me,” Dorma answered as she pulled out a large bowl to put the salad in. “I have some news to tell you and Lance. And your father is bringing over one of his bandmates for dinner.” 

“Is it Thace?” Keith asked as he got some plates out of the cupboard by the door. Keith turned to Lance and asked him to get the silverware from out the drawer of the cupboard. Lance fetched the utensils and the napkins. Both men set the table efficiently just like they did when they were kids.  
“Dorma. Keith. I’m home!” Alex yelled from the back door as he entered the kitchen and kissed his wife. A tall dark haired man followed him in. Thace was a tall Indian man with a severe expression which relaxed as he greeted Keith’s mother and smiled when he saw Keith. Thace played the trumpet in his father’s jazz band for years and was a frequent guest in the Kogane home. 

They all sat down to dinner as Dorma brought in the dish of lasagna in from the kitchen and Keith following her with the bowl of salad with Lance coming in last with the garlic bread. One thing Keith liked about going to college without moving to another state was being able to come see his parents and have a home cooked meal. As a talented singer, Keith had been offered scholarships to some prestigious music and performing arts programs,but chose to remain close to home.  
After dinner was done and the table cleared, Alex asked Keith and Lance how their finals went. Keith thought his Intermediate French final went well and Lance told him that he had a tough Calculus final that he most likely pass with a B. Dorma asked Keith to help her with the dishes and he joined her in the kitchen. Dorma started filling the sink with water and squirting dish soup as Keith put the dishes into the dishwasher. 

As they began washing the pots and pans, Keith asked her how her day went. Dorma passed her day by giving some elementary school singing lessons, did things around the house and went to the grocery. They were quiet for a while when Dorma turned to her son and said.

“I bumped into one of your former classmates at the store. Allura Tomlinson.Her family had moved back from England. She’ll be attending the University of Chicago this fall. I think that she said the she’s in the same program as you.” 

To Be Continued


	2. Finals and a Cook Out

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> During the last day of finals week, Keith and company plan a cook out and gets a visit from Romelle, Allura's cousin.

Keith was in shock to hear his mother say her name. Allura Tomlinson had been the most attractive girl in his class in high school and he’d had a massive crush on her since junior high. Needless to say, he was just one of the many guys at school who had vied for her attention. She was very smart academic wise, a phenomenal volleyball player and one of the best First Sopranos in choir. Keith had performed in the same choir as Allura from the time they were children, starting with the church choir. In the past, the mere mention of her name brought back bitter memories of his high school years. He always had been bad at talking to girls and sometimes being coached by Lance didn’t help. Keith was always envious how easily Lance could talk to girls since he always knew the right things to say. If Keith tried to talk to a girl, he’d get some tongue tied and flustered, it would make them think he was either weird or stupid.

 

“When did Allura’s family move back?” Keith asked his mother. His hands were starting to shake at the thought of seeing Allura again since he still had some unresolved feelings about what this could mean for him when fall semester started after Labor Day.

 

“They are moving back in June and I think that it’s the house for sale the next block over,” Dorma remarked as she handed Keith the pasta pot. Keith took it from his mother, dried it and put it in the cupboard. Dorma knew that Keith wasn’t on very good terms with Allura and was worried how Keith was going to interact with her if they crossed paths at the University of Chicago when school started back up. Dorma and Alex considered Allura’s parents friends and were excited that Alfor and his wife were moving back to the States.

 

Once Dorma and Keith were finished putting the dishes away and moved into the parlor to join Alex,Thace and Lance who was sitting at the piano playing some notes. Keith and Lance had spent many hours in music room practicing their singing as kids and later as young men. Keith and Lance weren’t friends at first. They had known each other since elementary school and sang together in the Chicago Boys Choir. In the beginning they had sort of an unofficial rivalry. At least a rivalry in Lance’s mind at the time. Lance came from a musically talented family and one of his brothers sang in the Boys Choir before him and being the star boy Soprano was considered by Lance to be a family tradition. However, Keith had gotten to be first Boy Soprano when he auditioned a blew away the judges who decided who should join the Boys Choir. Lance was also accepted into the Chicago Boys Choir at the same audition. Keith never considered Lance a rival of any kind and never took Lance’s attempts to upstage him seriously. Dorma thought that Lance was an exceptionally good singer and took time to work with him when Lance’s mother asked to her to tutor him during the summer between Choir seasons.

 

“Hey,Lance. Mom told me that Allura Tomlinson is moving back to the States and is going to be attending classes with us in the fall,” Keith told the Cuban American as he sat down on the piano bench next to his friend.

 

“You’re kidding me!” Lance hissed as his fingers fell on the piano keys making a loud sound that made the others in the room wince “How did you find that out? You and Allura aren’t exactly BFFs.”

 

“Mom bumped into her at the grocery this afternoon and she told her that her family is moving back. It wasn’t as if she was asking about me,” Keith said looking to see if his father and Thace had overheard them.

 

“Are you sure that your Mom was actually talking to Allura? I hope she knows that Allura has a cousin Romelle who looks an awful lot like her,” Lance said as he got off the piano bench. Keith’s friend checked his phone to see if his mother had texted him and saw a message asking if he was at Keith’s house. Lance texted his mother that he would be home soon.

 

“Thank you, Lance for bringing Keith home,” Dorma said as Lance said goodbye to Keith’s parents.

 

“Thank you, Mrs. Kogane for dinner. I have to get home soon and I will pick Keith up in the morning for finals,” Lance replied as he grabbed his backpack and car keys. Lance asked Keith what time he wanted him to come get him in the morning and Keith told him 8:30 because he wanted to get some studying in before his History final at 11:30.

 

“I’ll text you before I leave the house so you can be ready,” Lance told him as he got in his car.

 

“Thanks. And tell your Mom I said ‘Hi’” Keith told him as Lance pulled out of the driveway.

 

 

Keith woke up the next morning to the sun practically shining in his face and automatically panicked when he thought he’d overslept. He calmed downed when he saw that it was only 6:00 am on his bedside clock. He hauled himself out of bed and crossed the hall to the bathroom. Keith jumped in the shower, got dressed and headed down to the kitchen to fix himself breakfast. Keith was in the middle of fixing scrambled eggs when he heard his father come down the stairs dressed for work.

 

“Today the last day of school?” Keith asked as he plated both his father and himself some eggs and toast.

 

“Yep. Today is a Friday and the high school is letting the students begin summer vacation an hour earlier than normal,” Alex told his son as he buttered his toast. Keith reached into his backpack for his iPhone to see if Lance had texted him. Lance was notorious for taking forever to text Keith, especially when Keith asked him for a ride to campus. That had been happening since their junior year in high school. No text from Lance yet, so he focused on eating his breakfast.

 

Finally, Lance texted back and said that he would be at Keith’s house to pick him up. Keith heard the honk from Lance’s car and bolted out the door after giving his mother a kiss on the cheek as she came into the kitchen. He hopped into the car and as they pulled away, Keith got a text from his mom to pick up some cut up chicken from the grocery since the weather this evening was going to be perfect for grilling out and that Keith’s friends were welcome to join them if they were interested. Keith texted her that he would tell Hunk, Pidge and some of this other classmates that his parents were having cook out since it was Friday and it was to celebrate the end of the school year and the beginning of summer vacation.

 

Keith’s history final went extremely well. He met Lance, Pidge and Hunk in the Student center food court and got a sandwich from one of the vendors and walked outside to where the others were sitting. Lance was eating sushi, while Pidge had gotten some tacos from the Mexican food vendor and Hunk had brought something from the apartment that he shared with Keith and Lance. Hunk preferred to cook his own food because he didn’t think very highly of the food that the campus provided to the students that lived on campus.

 

“Are you guys interested in coming over to my parents’ house for a cook out since today is the last day of finals week?” Keith asked as he put his sandwich down and look at the others. He had already asked a couple of people who were in the music program that he was friends with and they said yes. A couple asked if they should bring beer or food to the cook out. He had texted his mother and she said that they would prefer they bring a side dish rather than alcohol. Keith got a confirmation that Lance, Hunk and Pidge that they would be able to come.

 

“Can you give me your Mom’s number so I can ask her if she wants help preparing the food?” Hunk asked. Hunk was an engineering major and he was Keith’s first roommate as a freshman and they got along very well. Lance also had classes with Hunk and actually was the person who introduced them.

 

“Sure,” Keith said as he pulled out his phone and handed it to the Samoan American. Hunk quickly jotted down Keith’s mother’s cellphone and handed it back to him. Pidge didn’t need Keith’s mom’s phone number because she had been had been to Keith’s house before. Her brother Matt had also been a member of the Chicago Boys Choir at the same time as Keith and Lance. He didn’t pursue a degree in music. He was more science oriented and was pursuing an engineering degree. Matt graduated last year and was a graduate student.

 

“My brother remembers where you live and I can ask him for a ride,” Pidge told him when Keith asked her if she needed to call his mother for directions.

 

Keith spent some time in the library waiting for Lance to finish his English Literature exam. He was catching up on his emails, when he saw flash of white hair at one of the computers a couple of rows over. His heart started to pound as he looks around the side of the cubicle. There was only one person (actually two if you counted her look alike cousin) that he knew that had hair that color. He didn’t think that Allura would be here in the computer lab in the library. Keith debated going over to speak to her but, the memory of that horrible day in the high school parking lot made him stop and return his attention to the screen. However, he heard footsteps headed in direction and hoped that the person didn’t stop at his computer.

 

“Keith Kogane? Is that you?” a female voice asked as she leaned over the side of the cubicle. The accent the young woman spoke in was American when he looked up. It wasn’t Allura Tomlinson, it was her cousin Romelle James.


	3. Allura and Romelle

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Romelle tells Allura about the cook out at the Kogane home and Allura muses over her past with Keith.

Keith looked up at Romelle in as she leaned over the side of the computer cubicle. The frown on his face vanished. He hadn’t seen Romelle since they’d graduated from high school and Romelle started attending a college out of state. He could understand why his mother confused Romelle with Allura. The only differences between Allura and Romelle were the color of their eyes and the way they wore their hair. Romelle wore her hair in a bob. Allura’s was long and flowing. Romelle’s eyes were blue green in color and Allura’s were bluish purple.

 

“I didn’t know that you were a student here!” Keith exclaimed.

 

“I’m transferring here this fall and I wanted to get a layout of the campus,” Romelle said as she blew a lock of hair out of her eyes. She was wearing a tee-shirt, a pair of jean shorts and gladiator sandals.

 

“So, Allura’s moving back to the States next month?” Keith asked her, as he pulled out a desk chair so that she could sit down. He liked Romelle a lot because she didn’t make him nervous.

 

“Yeah. Her father is moving the main offices for his company to Chicago because he doesn’t want to stay in London,” Romelle told him. “She’s a theater major and she heard that U of Chicago had a very good theater program.”

 

“Hey are you doing anything this evening? My parents are having a cook out and I’m inviting some people over to my parents’ house,” Keith told her. Romelle smiled.

 

“I would love to. I haven’t seen your parents since I moved to Boston for college,” Romelle said a warm smile on her pretty face.” Is it okay if I bring somebody?”

 

“Sure. You can bring a friend,” Keith said returning her smile. He had asked more people to his parents’ cook out and only one decline, so he felt pretty positive about this evening. They continued talking for a half hour. Keith heard someone shout his name. Both Keith and Romelle lifted their heads to see Lance heading in their direction. And so were all the other people in the computer lab. Lance, of course, ignored the dirty looks being thrown his way.

 

“Hey,Romelle! Long time, no see,” the Cuban American said as he stopped at the computer cubicle.

 

“It’s nice to see you too, Lance”, Romelle anwered.

 

“Are you ready to go? And Romelle, do you need my parents address?”Keith asked both of them as he reached for his backpack as he got up from the computer after he logged out of his email account and closed the web browser.

 

Keith and Lance parted company with Romelle after Keith gave Romelle his home address and the three exited the building. The campus was almost deserted since most of the students had gone home for the summer. Lance wanted to stop at the Student Center bookstore to sell some of his textbooks. Lance was rather disappointed that didn’t get back as much money as was hoping for one of the books he sold back.

 

“Dude,I spent $79  dollars on that book for English Literature and only got back $10 for it?” Lance fumed as they left the bookstore, past a rather long line of students, most of them waiting to purchase their cap and gown for the graduation ceremony this weekend. Both Keith and Lance had two more years to go before they could apply for graduation.

 

“That sucks. Somebody told me before Spring Semester started that renting is probably your best bet next year,” Keith told him as they got into the car. “At least you’ll get back the money that you spent on it.”

 

There next stop after leaving the campus was to pick up some more chicken to be grilled and Lance stopped in the Liquor aisle to pick up some beer. They also remembered to grab a large bag of ice as well.

 

 

 

Romelle had been waiting for her cousin at the Registrar as Allura was getting things situated with the woman behind the window. Romelle was a little wary about asking Allura to accompany her to the Koganes’ house. She felt rather guilty not telling Keith that the person she was bringing was his high school crush. The last time, she went to a party where Keith and Allura had to be anywhere near each other, it didn’t end well. Keith, at the time was still smarting from the fact that the only reason why she agreed to go out with him was because she was more interested in Takashi Shirogane than she was in Keith, and wanted to get close to him. Plus, the debacle that was the Spring Choir concert their senior year. It had left Keith with some serious performance anxiety. She hoped that things would go well this evening.

 

“Are you finished, Allura?” Romelle asked as Allura headed over to her with a print out in her hand. The other young woman looked up and smiled at her. Allura was wearing flower printed halter dress with a pink sweater over top, her hair was in a neat French braid, which was slung over her shoulder.

 

“Yes, I just got the invoice for my fees this fall. Thank the Lord, I don’t have to live in a dorm! Father wants me to live with you so that he doesn’t have to pay room & board,” Allura sighed as they left the Bursars building.

 

“I don’t mind. It was really nice of your father to pay for the rent for next fall in advance. It will really help since you don’t plan on getting a job,” Romelle said as they both got into the Range Rover parked in the Visitors Parking lot. As they pulled out, Romelle decided to tell Allura about the cook out.

 

“Do remember Keith Kogane?” Romelle asked as they headed away from campus.

 

“Of course, I remember him,” Allura said as she put her iPhone in her purse.

 

“Well I saw him in the library this afternoon and he invited me to his parents’ house because they are having a cook out and I asked if I could bring a guest. However, I didn’t tell him it was you.”

 

Allura looked her cousin in shock. Granted she and Keith didn’t part on good terms when they graduated four years ago. It had been a while since she had thought of the him and mostly it was feelings of guilt. It may have been three years since she had seen Keith and she had reservations about accompanying her cousin to the party.

 

“If you’re worried about how Keith’s going to react to seeing you, you don’t have to go,” Romelle told her as they merged into traffic on the freeway.

 

“If you are worried that I’m going to start picking on him, I don’t plan on it,Romelle!” Allura told her cousin as she put her iPhone back in her Michael Kors bag. “We’re in our 20’s and I think that we’ve all matured past that kind of behavior.” Allura had been looking forward to seeing Alex and Dorma Kogane after all these years. It had been four years since she had graduated from high school and moved back to England. She hoped that things would go well and that everyone had a good time.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I decided to post this chapter a couple of days early because I have to work all day on Friday and the campus library closes at five.

**Author's Note:**

> Please note that updates are posted every Thursday. I know that I told people that updates would be on Friday,but I'm changing it to Thursday. Next chapter Allura finally makes her appearance.


End file.
